The Darkness That Lives Within Us
by Garjzla
Summary: Harry Potter has friends he never thought he would have, in places that he didn't think he'd have them. When he finds out that he's been told many lies, his eyes open to the world around him, and he chooses which side he's on and why.
1. Prologue: Death

**Author's note, 10/9:** This chapter has been minorly edited - not much was done, just a few minor clarifications.

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"Harry, please," a bodiless voice pleaded with a black-haired, green-eyed child. "We only want to help – please, let us help. We can get you away from these people for good."

"Why do you want to help me? I'm not worth it," the child replied, voice weak with pain. He had several broken bones and a couple of currently bleeding cuts.

"You're Harry Potter. Whether you realize it or not, a lot of people care about you. Also, you are one of the few with enough magical power to be able to withstand our help. You have been manipulated without your knowledge, and we want to get you out of here," the voice replied soothingly.

"You…" the child broke off, coughing up blood. "You can get me out of here without hurting anyone?"

"Absolutely, if that is what you wish. While we would prefer to give your relatives what they deserve, after we step in to help we must do as you wish. It is a price we are willing to pay, as we can do nothing without someone to bond with."

"O-okay," the child said weakly, starting to fall asleep from loss of blood. "I give in. Please, help me…"

The darkness that claimed him made him feel welcome, comfortable, loved…he wasn't dead; he could still feel and was very much aware of his body. With a contented sigh, he relaxed in the comfort and fell asleep easily.

To those watching his body as he slept, it would seem as though he died; his breathing stopped, his heartbeat stopped – everything keeping him "alive" stopped. Then his body disappeared, or seemed to; in reality, the room's lights had gone out, and any light that entered the room was absorbed in the all-consuming shadows. It was eerily quiet; there was no way to tell what had just happened.

The alarms set up around the house never went off, but, instead, were simply deactivated; an attentive Headmaster, however, still noticed. Confused but not too alarmed, said Headmaster called a particular Potions Professor to his office.

"Yes, Headmaster?" he calmly asked, though he was inwardly annoyed. The Headmaster had interrupted the brewing of a delicate potion that he would now have to restart.

"Do you think you could check up on young Harry for me? The alarms I set up were deactivated; I would like to know how and why," the Headmaster replied calmly; though the words suggested a question, his tone suggested an order. The twinkle in his eye was nearly absent.

With an annoyed sigh, Snape nodded, inwardly cursing the brat for disturbing his peaceful summer. Apparating to Privet Drive once in muggle attire, he grumbled to himself as he cast a soft "alohomora" on the front door of Number Four, entering quietly. He made his way smoothly up the stairs, cautious to not make too much noise, and checked each room that he passed.

Only one door was closed on the floor, and he cautiously moved closer, not knowing what had happened. Opening the door and noticing that the room was dark, he cast "lumos," then frowned as he felt the magic activate though no light appeared.

With the frown still apparent, he lowered his wand and used his other senses to map out the room around him. He gasped and opened his eyes just before a voice was heard.

"Severus Snape?" a smooth voice asked softly, coming from all around the snarky Potions Professor.

"That is my name," he replied warily, looking around the room.

"You already see us, Professor. We know why you are here."

"You do?"

"Of course. You are here because Albus Dumbledore, the manipulative Headmaster, asked you to come and check up on the pawn that no longer belongs to him. And to find out why we deactivated the alarms he had set up around the place."

"Well…why did you deactivate the alarms? Wouldn't it have been easier to just take him away from here?"

"The alarms would have gone off if he had left the area, or if we, as we have, claimed him as ours – and he would have come himself to check what happened. There was a small chance that he wouldn't be paying enough attention to notice if the alarms were deactivated instead of set off and we were sure that even if he noticed, he wouldn't come to see what happened himself."

"…Oh." Snape paused, thinking about what he had just been told. "Wait…Harry Potter is the one the shadows have been waiting to claim? There must be some kind of mistake! He's no more than a spoiled brat, he always has been!"

"Calm down, Snape. Harry is no 'spoiled brat.' Why do you think that he flinches away from all contact during the start of school, or why he doesn't always answer to his name? All he knows here is pain-"

"You must be mistaken, he-" Snape interrupted, but was suddenly unable to speak.

"Let us finish, Severus. Harry Potter as you think of him never existed. From the beginning, he was forced to put on a mask and act like nothing was wrong. It's been wearing thin around the edges this last year – surely you've noticed that he flinched at all raised voices last year, and shied away from all touch, flinching even when his 'friends' so much as hugged him?"

Snape nodded, as he was still unable to speak.

"And surely you've noticed how thin he is and how thick the magic around him is, when he first gets back to school? Have you _ever_ wondered why?"

Suddenly able to speak again, Snape replied uncertainly, "Surely he has been pretending…?"

"Why would he do such a thing?"

"For more attention, of course."

"Severus…" the voice seemed to sigh. "He has never been spoiled. He may be a good actor – shown by the fact that you so strongly believe that he has been spoiled rotten – but that is only because of what happens here. He's afraid that if anyone knew, nobody would want him anymore."

"I may not believe you yet, shadow, but I am willing to give your master a second chance, if that is your wish. If you turn out to be wrong about him, however, I will never give him a third chance."

"That is all we wish, Severus: for you all to give our young master a second chance. We don't even ask for you to forgive him or his father – unless you find out we were right and truly think that they deserve that from you."

"…what should I tell Albus?"

"Tell him anything; just don't tell him the truth. He has hurt our master far too much for far too long; he doesn't deserve a second chance. Tell him…tell him that our master died; it's not that far from the truth. Tell him that Harry Potter was attacked by Death Eaters – they disabled the alarms to take him to their master; he resisted, and was killed on accident. If he comes out and tries to find out for himself what happened, the magic won't lie to him; that is, in terms of magic, is what he will find."

"Alright then. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Such as?"

"I'm sure your master would like somewhere to stay that is far away from here."

"Oh. Yeah, that would be a big help."

"Don't mention it. How would you like me to do this?"

"Go ahead and pick him up; we trust you enough to not hurt him in this very important step. Just…be careful."

Nodding absently, Snape blinked as the room was lifted from absolute darkness, in all intents blinding him after such extensive sight deprivation. He walked slowly over to the male seemingly asleep on the bed, frowning thoughtfully as he saw the blood and other stains on everything save the boy himself. He gently picked Harry up, cradling the slight weight against his strong body. Still frowning, he Apparated away to his ancestral home, then set the young man up in the largest guest bedroom.

"I'll be back soon," he said, after setting Harry down on the overly large bed. He seemed so frail amongst the covers that Snape paused before starting to walk out of the room, lost in thought.

"We'll be waiting," the voice replied quietly.

Severus Apparated off to Hogsmeade and then walked to Hogwarts, heading directly to the Headmaster's office. He prepared himself mentally to lie directly to the Headmaster; he wasn't the best Occlumens in the century for nothing, after all – if anyone could lie directly to the Headmaster and get away with it, it was him. It did, of course, help that the Headmaster trusted him, perhaps more than he should have.

"Hello, Severus," Albus said kindly, watching the Potions Master enter his office with a nervous air. "What did you find?"

"Potter…Potter's dead, Albus," Severus replied with a sigh. "Death Eaters loyal to Voldemort took down the alarms and tried to get Potter to join their side. He refused, and so they killed him. I got there too late to do anything, but my position as a spy has been compromised; I can't afford to go to any more Death Eater meetings without a death wish. I'm sorry."

Before the Headmaster could reply, Snape was out of the office, and so he didn't notice the missing twinkle from those 'omnipotent' eyes.

Returning to Snape manor, where he had put Harry, he checked up on the shadow-claimed room. "I'm back," he said softly, walking into the dark room.

"He'll be awake in a couple of weeks, we are sure. There is a lot of work ahead of us, in fixing his body. His mind, however…we will need your help, Severus, to fix his mind. It will not be easy for us nor for you; there is much damage present that we must take care of. While we work on his body, why don't you let those you trust know that we have claimed our master?"

"Of course, shadow," Snape said softly, determined to do the right thing this time through. He walked away to do what the shadows had suggested, starting with a certain family of blonds.


	2. Chapter 1: Meeting the Shadow

**Author's Note 10/9: **Sorry for the extreme delay between updates, nothing to be done about it. I will continue this story to its end, no matter how long it will take.

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Harry's eyes opened slowly, adjusting quickly to the total darkness around him. Though he could not see, he was not worried; his other senses weren't hindered and thus he could at least sense that he was safe. "Where am I?" he asked, comfortable enough to not question that fact that he couldn't see for the moment.

"Do you remember finally giving in to the ones that have pleaded with you for years to let them take care of you?" a voice asked calmly, the same voice that had spoken earlier with Severus Snape. Of course, Harry had been unconscious at that time, but it was also the same voice that had been speaking to him for years.

"Vaguely, it's all kind of fuzzy around the edges," he replied, stretching lightly before settling down again. He was lying on a bed, but didn't recognize it. It was far too soft and comfortable to be his bed at the Dursley's.

"We claimed you as our rightful master, and did so with your permission, Harry Potter."

"…Oh."

"Oh indeed, Mr. Potter. There is just one thing that you need to do, master, before we can let you see," the voice said gently. "We need you to break the bond you have with both the dark one and the darker one, and to break the blockages the darker one put on your powers and your thoughts."

"That sounds…difficult."

"It is a lot easier done than it sounds, master, and we will be here to guide you through the process. However, we cannot do this for you, for we cannot directly touch your mind."

"Oh…so, how do I do this?"

"You know how to meditate, yes?"

"Yeah. I taught myself…a long time ago."

"Well, slip into a light trance."

Nodding absently, Harry relaxed and slid expertly into a trance, surprised to notice that as he did so he also slid into his own mind. Frowning in concentration, he looked through his mind.

The same expansive darkness that had been there when he had awoken was present in his mind, though in this darkness there were emerald-green stars and quick bursts of silver-green lightning strikes as well. Glancing around, he could only see more and more of the odd mental set-up.

"Now what?" he asked absentmindedly, searching his own mind with an accuracy that only slightly disturbed him.

"Find the blue-black thread first, master. We must sever your tie with the dark one first, as the darker one's bond relies on it," the voice replied soothingly.

"Who is this dark one, anyways?" he asked absently, looking for what had been described to him. There were many ways to describe one who was dark, after all. He assumed, for the moment at least, that the darker one was Voldemort.

Once he found what he was looking for, he reached out to gently touch the strand, surprised at the strength of the spider-web-thin wire. "And how do I break this without hurting me or the dark one?"

"The dark one is the one who killed your parents, master."

"Voldemort?" Harry paused after this word escaped his lips, blinking, having cut in before the voice could finish its statement. Well, there went his theory about the darker one.

"And there is no way to avoid the pain for either you or the dark one, master, just yank on it and it should let go of its hold on your mind."

"Wait, how did Voldemort get a bond like this in my mind? And why is he the dark one? Who is this darker one, if not Voldemort?"

"You have always had this bond, master. Ever since that night the dark lord's curse rebounded." As for the other questions, they were ignored for the moment. The shadows saw no need to answer them just yet; the time to answer these questions had not arrived. Soon, very soon indeed, they would be answered.

Harry shivered a bit and pulled on the wire without further hesitation, silently vowing to do something about the dark lord some time soon. He winced slightly as it came out fairly easily, and he watched as it immediately turned to ash.

"What now?"

"Golden-red this time, master."

He searched for the next one, and was dismayed to see that this one was far stronger, and thus far thicker, than the previous one. "Who did this?"

"The darker one, master, who you questioned us about just a few moments ago. Your very own Headmaster caused this to grow in your mind."

Harry glared at the cable-thick strand, and blinked in surprise as it frayed a little bit. He watched as it then repaired itself, attaching more little strands to its base, where it attached to his mind. It seemed that it healed itself whenever damaged; that would make this one far more difficult to remove than the last had been.

"Take care of it quickly, master. His hold is far greedier than that of the dark one; he does not wish to let you go free. However, he does not actually have access to this connection without looking into your mind in person, so he cannot strengthen it from where he is at now."

Harry growled and started working on this one as quickly as he could, using his anger to shield himself from the pain caused by each tiny strand coming out of his mind. He worked quickly in order to combat the self-healing portion of the bond.

In a fairly short amount of time, the cable was out and fading away; he refused to move on to the next step in what the shadow wanted until he was absolutely certain that it was gone. When the last bit of it faded from his sight, he sighed with relief and let his muscles relax, wincing a bit. That one had certainly hurt more than the last one, as well as taken longer to remove.

"The blocks now, master." The voice was gentle and reassuring, and Harry smiled weakly as he heard the acceptance and devotion towards him. He was somewhat tired already, but knew that there was more that he had to do before he could rest.

Feeling slightly better due to the acceptance from the voice, he searched his mind instinctively for more of the golden-red. There were patches over some places that were golden-red, and they faded quickly at his simple touch. Soon, his mind was healthier: the colors brighter, the defenses surer, fewer blaring weaknesses present. Clearly the blocks had been weakening something to do with his mind (and, perhaps, also his body); this only served to make more anger appear in Harry towards his 'beloved' Headmaster. Putting the anger to the side, he felt curiosity bubble up: why were they so easy to remove?

"Without the bond of the darker one over your mind and body, master, the dams no longer had any power backing them. They stood because they were placed there, but no longer had any foundation. If you had tried to dissolve them before untying the bond, you would have failed miserably due to the blocks being strengthened with any signs of tampering. In turn, the bond would have strengthened – perhaps to the point that removing it would have done serious damage to your mind."

"Ah," Harry said simply, and climbed out of the trance smoothly. Stretching with his eyes closed, he spoke. "Now what?"

"Now, master, you are ready to reappear to the world as the master of shadow. We, master, are your complete and utter servants; do not feel guilty, for we chose this of our own volition. Without you, master, we would be nothing; we require a master who has suffered at the hands of those supposed to care for them, else we can do nothing to help the world. In addition to having suffered, our master must be magical; we cannot bond with one without magic." Here the voice paused for a few moments, letting Harry absorb this information.

"However, now that we think about it...there is one more thing, master, that we feel is important for you to do before you do your part to make yourself seen in this world. Master, while you have gained many strengths due to your bond with us, there are a few things that you must do before announcing yourself to the world as our master. These are not difficult things, beyond a little pain, but they are essential in order to truly call yourself master of shadow.

"First, which is what we have just done, is to clear your mind of any presences that do not belong. In your case, it was the bond formed due to the current dark lord's attempt to kill you, and the bond your Headmaster created in an attempt to keep you under his control. With this out of the way, we are assured that you are acting out of your own will, and not forced into doing anything that you do not wish to do.

"Secondly, though no less urgently, we are to guide you in dissolving barriers that others, or perhaps yourself, have put up in your mind. This, for the most part, you have done yourself over time: your Headmaster attempted to cause you to fear your gift of Parseltongue, but you refused to fear something that had never caused you harm – and even came to relish the fact that you had a gift that few others had, and made a vow to yourself to bring a good name to Parselmouths around the world.

"The Headmaster did initially succeed in prejudicing you against Slytherins, but over time you have come to realize that not all Slytherins are dark, and not all Death Eaters were Slytherins. In addition, we have guided you in destroying the blocks that the Headmaster put up to block various abilities, from greater strength to a few other things that we will find out in time." At this time, the voice took a break, presumably to let Harry process things, and not overload him all at once. Or maybe just to take a brief break because it wanted to; it was hard to tell.

"Lastly, which is a task we will undertake in a few moments, we must purge your mind of webs of deceit, created by yourself or by others. In order to be our true master and tell others that you are our master, you must be able to see the world without prejudice caused by others. That is, you must view the world with your eyes alone; no other has the power to dictate how you feel in any way, shape or form. As a master of shadow, it is known that nobody has the right to tell you what to think besides yourself – not even the Ministry or your friends. While this may seem like a right everyone has, it is not true (as you well know by now), but it is a right you will claim as your own."

With that, the voice paused, waiting for Harry to catch up with all that had just been spoken of. In time, the shadow thought, this master would due much great in the world; the current state of affairs is the reason why they decided to claim a new master, after all, and having a master as well known as The Harry Potter would just make everything easier in the long run.

"Okay, I think I understand. You helped me purge foreign influences – the bonds – so that I wouldn't be influenced against my will. You pointed out the blocks, so that I wouldn't be unduly prejudiced against others, and so that I would have access to my full powers. And now...well, I don't quite understand, but I think you are trying to say that we are going to dissolve anything else that lingers from other people's input, to let me see the world as I know it, untainted by other viewpoints forced upon me." With this statement, the shadows knew they had picked well. They knew that their explanation was not clearly spoken, and yet this child had understood, and was able to explain to them what they were trying to say – showing that despite the sometimes awkward phrasing, Harry was smart enough to read between the lines.

"Exactly, my love." The shadow wrapped around Harry's body, embracing the one they now called master. They switched to a new endearment, deciding that they had, in fact, made the correct choice, and would be perfectly content to serve this new master for the rest of their combined days together.

"Okay. What do I look for?" Harry was taking things one at a time; without the influence of the dark lord or of the Headmaster, he realized that he was calmer, and that he could think far clearer than before. He never noticed before, he realized, because both bonds had been in place since he was very young; otherwise, he would have fought the slight haze of confusion, and perhaps broken at least one of the two bonds, if not both. Besides that, he knew he could trust the shadow; he was their true master, after all, and thus they would never betray him.

"My love, think of a closed off room, a room with only one door, from which nothing can escape without your permission. Think of everything anyone has told you of what might be expected of you, either as a wizard or a male or whatever you can think of. Imagine that each of these suggestions are inside of this room, confined, unable to escape." The voice was soothing, guiding Harry into a slightly deeper trance, keeping him focused on the task at hand. A one-roomed building of sorts started to form in front of them, perfectly round in shape; though the shadows had not described it in any detail, Harry instinctively made it so that nothing could hide once inside. The voice continued along the same lines until the room in front of them was solid, at which point it waited until Harry opened his eyes, having finished this part of the task.

"Very good, my love," the voice praised, causing Harry to blush slightly. "Now, let's take a look inside, yeah? Don't worry, even if the door is wide open, nothing can leave this room without your permission."

At this point, Harry entered the room just created. Inside, it was dark until Harry thought to add light; after that, it was bright enough to reach every point in the circular room, but not bright enough to hamper vision. Harry looked around in curiosity; he wondered what form the coercions in his life would take.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered in squiggly worm-like lines of all imaginable colors (though golden-red was more common than other colors). Each one moved slowly, insidiously trying to make their way out of the room – but unable to, thanks to the way the room had been set up. Harry watched as a couple of the worm-like creations tried to wiggle their way out the doorway, but were stopped just before they could make it through; it seemed that the shadow was true: nothing in this room could leave without his say so.

"My love, now we need you to destroy each and every one of these worms, okay? This will enable you to act without the barriers that society has put upon you; you will no longer have an outside force dictating what is right and wrong. Instead, you will decide for yourself, based on past and future experiences, what you believe is right and wrong. In this way, my love, you will rise above the petty rules that others have created. With the destruction of these worms, along with the barriers and bonds from before, you will be tied down by none besides yourself, and your future mate."

With this having been said, Harry considered the effect of destroying things in his own mind, and thought on how to do this with the least amount of pain to himself. He didn't ask the shadow for its opinion, because he wanted to be able to rely on himself; he knew that this was something that had to be done on his own. Experimentally, he tried grabbing one of the wiggling worms, only to find that every time he tried to, they managed to escape his grip. No matter how hard he tried to keep them in his hand, there was nothing he could do to keep it there.

Humming thoughtfully, his next attempt was to imagine one of the insidious things burning; when this succeeded, he jumped at the sudden flash of flame. However, this caused much pain (as the fire burned not only the worm, but also the room it was held in); he decided that even though this worked, he would try other, less destructive things. He wasn't a big fan of pain, after all, and he would need to concentrate for long enough to destroy each and every one of these worms.

This time, instead of one of the worms being the source of fire, he decided to take another path. He focused and created a fireplace nearby the door, so that the rest of the room would be unharmed; in this fireplace, he imagined a fire hot enough that nothing living (as he imagined the worms to be) would be able to survive. Once the fire started burning in its black-and-green sort of way, he imagined each of the worms being pushed in, as though the room was shrinking. He made sure to add in the thought that it wasn't actually shrinking, more that the wards keeping the worms inside the room were shrinking, forcing everything towards the fireplace.

He watched impassively as the worms were pushed closer and closer to the fire, each one burning quickly and disappearing with a small flash. He made sure to not lose control of the fire; he didn't want it to go burning at the room around it, after all, as that was likely to be far more painful than the hair-pulling sensation that was caused by each destroyed worm.

Once that was done, he sat down heavily and let the fire go out; it took a lot of sustained concentration to keep a fire like that burning in the mind without letting it harm the mind itself. Breathing as though having run a marathon, he rested; he could feel that the shadow was proud of him, and couldn't help the little bit of a smile on his face.

"Well done, my love, very well done indeed. With that over with, my love, we can now finish our job of healing your body. Rest, my love, and next time you wake, you will know where you have been taken." And with those words, the world faded to calm black once again, Harry having fallen into a deep, healing sleep.


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